PBS stations consider merger

June 6, 2014|By Donna Gehrke-White, Sun Sentinel

Two of South Florida's three Public Broadcasting Stations are exploring a merger that would provide more programming to viewers, executives said Friday.

WPBT2, which serves Broward and Miami-Dade counties, and WXEL-TV in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast could join as South Florida PBS. The merger would make South Florida the seventh-largest TV market in the United States, executives said.

"We just see an opportunity — bigger is better," said Bernie Henneberg, CEO of WXEL-TV. The two stations could pool resources to offer more programs, including locally produced ones, he said. They also would fundraise as one, without asking the same people and groups for money, Henneberg added.

The two stations also could coordinate digital programming, executives said.

"We are in a new era of communication, and there are many advantages of working together to maximize our resources to create local content and services," Dolores Sukhdeo, CEO of WPBT2, said in a prepared statement.

A third PBS television station, WLRN, which operates out of the Miami-Dade School Board, is not part of the proposed merger.

"I don't have much of a reaction," WLRN general manager John Labonia said Friday of the proposed merger. On its own, WLRN is adding programming and raising more in donations, he said. "We're doing great."

No timetable has been set if WPBT2 and WXEL-TV agree to merge. They would need to get approval from several groups, including the Federal Communications Commission, the Florida Department of Education and national PBS headquarters.

The two stations have discussed joining forces before without doing it. "This is another go at it," said Max Duke, WPBT2 vice president of content and community partnerships.